The economy takes another turn for the worse as thousands in Atlanta riot over housing shortages; on today’s extended Community Business, we’ll take a look at the state of today’s economy as it continues to unravel; also, an update on the case of the Scott Sisters who are serving two life sentences for an 11 dollar robbery eye witnesses say they didn’t do; and we’ll have a report on BP’s cash supporting academic apartheid at the University of California.
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EPA whistle-blower Hugh Kauffman out front again, blowing the whistle on the Obama Administration and on his own higher-ups at the EPA; also, a federal judge throws out Proposition 8, the constitutional ban on gay marriage, but a long-time gay rights activist advises caution in the midst of celebration; we’ll have a special report from Kevin Pina on the decision by anti-Aristide rapper Wyclef Jean to run for president of Haiti; and we’ll feature our regular weekly segment of Community Business with Catherine Austin-Fitts.

Hurricane Alex hovers off the coast of Texas and threatens to escalate and spread the oil from the BP underground volcano; we’ll have reports from Venice, Louisiana at the coast, and from the Florida panhandle, where a number of beaches have already been closed down; also, we’ll have a report back from the International Indigenous Women’s Symposium on Reproductive Health; and we’ll have our regular weekly segment of Community Business with Catherine Austin-Fitts.

Thick oil washes up in Pensacola and the the Florida Panhandle-Kids decorate their sandcastles with toxic tar balls; also, confronting the Coast Guard to find out the truth about the BP gusher and its real impacts in the Gulf-A photo journalist flies over the Gulf, but it isn’t a pretty picture, and was that a toxic rainbow spotted today over New Orleans?; also, Community Business with Catherine Austin Fitts and Jesse Strauss joins us for Up Front from the US Social Forum in Detroit.

Stanley Sporkin, former general council of the CIA under Iran-Contra mastermind William Casey, is none other than the Ombudsman for BP; we’ll speak with Catherine Austin Fitts who has conducted an in-depth investigation into Sporkin; also, we’ll speak to Richard Steiner, a former university of Alaska professor who played a key role in the aftermath of the Exxon-Valdez oil spill, and who has just returned from working on the cleanup in the Gulf; we’ll have a special report; also, a report on the cultural devastation that BP’s oil spill has unleashed on Gulf communities; and a report back from a poor peoples march from New Orleans to Detroit.

A survivor of the Israeli commando attack on the main boat of the Gaza Freedom Flotilla contradicts all of Israel’s claims about their bloody attack; also, we’ll speak to our special correspondent Nora Barrows-Friedman about the implications of the recent attack, and we’ll hear an excerpt of a debate between Jeremy Scahill and former New York City Mayor Ed Koch; also, we’ll speak to Antonia Juhasz about her recent tour on the Gulf arrest for criminal trespassing at a Chevron plant; and on Community Business with Catherine Austin Fitts we’ll talk about the impending devastation of the BP under-water gusher; and our new daily feature follows: Up Front with Jesse Strauss.

According to several leading scientists, if BP’s plan fails to plug its as-yet uncontrollable offshore oil gusher in the Gulf of Mexico, the hole in the ocean could be pumping vast quantities of thick, brown crude for months and even years to come; we’ll speak to our special correspondent on the scene and shrimperwoman, mom and local activist Kindra Arnesen; also, on Community Business with Catherine Austin Fitts, we’ll report on how the key major Wall Street bandits are now suing each other and casting blame outside their own corporate headquarters; and sounds from the film The Yes Men Fix the World.

BP oil smothers the shores of Louisiana’s coastline today, confirming people’s worst fears in this unprecedented oil spill that scientists say equals an Exxon Valdez-size spill every three days; we’ll speak to shrimper and local activist Kindra Arnesen; we’ll also hear from our special correspondent on the coast Larry Everest; we’ll have our regular weekly edition of Community Business with Catherine Austin Fitts, who will report on the devastating impact the Wall Street meltdown has had on Calpirg, the largest pension fund in the country; and we broadcast excerpts of American Radical, a documentary film about historian and scholar Norman Finkelstein.

An AP reporter scoops up oil from the Gulf of Mexico with a bucket and displays it in his hands at the site of the Deepwater Horizon oil spill on May 10.

Catherine Austin Fitts talks about the devastation of the Gulf as the BP-Halliburton oil spill gets worse, and the economic impact of the environmental disaster; also, we get an update on the struggle to protect access for medical marijuana patients as Federal attacks continue across the country; and longtime marijuana advocate and activist Ed Rosenthal talks about the upcoming potential for full legalization in California and his new book, Ed Rosenthal’s Marijuna Grower’s Handbook.

Blackhawk helicopters descend on Wounded Knee for May Day, we’ll talk to American Indian Movement founder Bill Means about the helicopters, the racist Arizona law, the Gulf spill and the arrest in New York; also, we’ll have our regular weekly visit with Catherine Austin Fitts on Community Business; and Olympia, Washington activists win a lawsuit against law enforcement for illegally spying on their anti-war activities.

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Flashpoints is an award-winning daily investigative newsmagazine broadcast on the national Pacifica Radio network. Through original reports and some of the key investigative reporters of our time, Flashpoints goes to the frontlines and to the core of the stories in the areas of government and corporate criminality, human rights, and economic justice. From Baghdad to the US-Mexico border, Palestine to San Francisco, Port-au-Prince to Washington DC, Flashpoints monitors the centers of power as an uncensored platform of independent media.

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We're searching for great new music produced by independent musicians and members of our global audience, so that we can be as non-corporate and copyright-free as possible. All genres -- from blues to electronica to world beats -- welcome!

We like smart, political and well-produced music -- and are especially in search of possible new theme instrumentals. Please send it to Flashpoints, c/o KPFA, 1929 Martin Luther King Jr. Way, Berkeley, CA 94704, or email your Mp3s at flashpointsproducer@gmail.com with full descriptions and credits.